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Bump Bonding Using Metal-Coated Carbon Nanotubes

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Bump bonding hybridization techniques use arrays of indium bumps to electrically and mechanically join two chips together. Surface-tension issues limit bump sizes to roughly as wide as they are high. Pitches are limited to 50 microns with bumps only 8–14 microns high on each wafer. A new process uses oriented carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a metal (indium) in a wicking process using capillary actions to increase the aspect ratio and pitch density of the connections for bump bonding hybridizations. It merges the properties of the CNTs and the metal bumps, providing enhanced material performance parameters.

By merging the bumps with narrow and long CNTs oriented in the vertical direction, higher aspect ratios can be obtained if the metal can be made to wick. Possible aspect ratios increase from 1:1 to 20:1 for most applications, and to 100:1 for some applications. Possible pitch density increases of a factor of 10 are possible.

Standard capillary theory would not normally allow indium or most other metals to be drawn into the oriented CNTs, because they are non-wetting. However, capillary action can be induced through the ability to fabricate oriented CNT bundles to desired spacings, and the use of deposition techniques and temperature to control the size and mobility of the liquid metal streams and associated reservoirs.

This hybridization of two technologies (indium bumps and CNTs) may also provide for some additional benefits such as improved thermal management and possible current density increases.

This work was done by James L. Lamb, Matthew R. Dickie, Robert S. Kowalczyk, and Anna Liao of Caltech; and Michael J. Bronikowski of Atomate Corporation for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NPO-46592